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Gilford, New Hampshire
Timberman was on my schedule from the beginning of the year, but it also happened to coincide with a photo shoot for TYR. Last year, I flew out to New Hampshire from Boulder just to do the shoot and I didn’t race. This year I decided I could use a little fitness test and tune-up so I don’t go into Kona without a solid race since Ironman Coeur d’Alene on June 21. After my Ironman this year, I took a nice long break to make sure I was fully recovered and ready to begin training again. Since I started training seriously again (only a few weeks ago), my training has been less than stellar. I haven’t been able to string together really solid training. My consistency just wasn’t the best. I put in some solid workouts and just started my build to Kona at the beginning of August. I knew I would be traveling to New Hampshire after Utah and that my race fitness would be tested at best. That being said, it was a race and every time I toe the line I want to get the most out of the race and the most out of myself.
Ashley and I flew from Salt Lake City to Boston on Thursday and rented a car. From there we then drove to my cousin, Eric’s house. We stayed at Eric’s on Thursday and Friday night and had a really great dinner in Boston on Friday night. It was restaurant week in Boston so each of us had a three course meal at Tremont for $33; great deal and even better food. Eric just had his first child, Cael, so we wanted to spend some time with his new family. We left Boston on Saturday morning and drove to New Hampshire. We had a great homestay, extremely proximal to the race venue. Kevin and Amy Tripp were gracious enough to let us stay at their huge New Hampshire home on the backside of Gunstock Mountain Resort. They even cooked us a wonderful pre-race meal complete with natural apple pie and some of Jordan’s Blackberry Ice Cream. Delicious!
Race morning was a little congested as several thousand people tried to drive and park in a very small parking lot. I was driving my rental with Ash, Catriona Morrison, and some Canadian we picked up on the side of the road racing his first triathlon. We ended up having to walk and bike to the transition area because it was taking too much time to drive in the traffic. The walk/bike was actually fine because the race was delayed about 20 minutes due to a traffic accident on the bike course.
It was a non-wetsuit swim and about 75 degrees. I started the swim all the way to the left of the clockwise loop next to Andy Potts and Simon Thompson. I made the mistake of going out behind Andy when I should have just gone out on my own. Andy tends to start a little slow for me and then get into a groove. I like clear water from the start. I lost Simon Thompson around the first buoy and was in a small pack of three with Bjorn Anderson. It was not a good swim for me and that is usually the sign of a sub par race, but I was optimistic and just went with the day on the bike. I started out calm so I wouldn’t blow up too early. I knew my fitness was on the short end of good, so being conservative would be necessary today. I still ended up fading the last 45 minutes of the bike and came into transition in 6th place but pretty well blown for the day. I started running slow and sluggish. I didn’t have much turn over and just felt tired and hot. I needed water bad and couldn’t drink enough of it. I was also badly overheating. I couldn’t get enough water or ice at the aid stations, but at this point it didn’t really matter because I was just running on survival mode. I wasn’t going to pass anybody, just try to mitigate the damage and survive the run as a good day of training in the heat. I finished in 10th, not good enough. Andy Potts was amazing on the day, working everyone like a ditch digger.
This was a nice little preparation for me and 7 weeks before Kona it was a nice test of where the fitness is currently. I feel like I am back in May and writing about my race in St. Croix. I am in a little better position than I was in May, but still have a long way to go before Little Mac is ready for the title match with Mike Tyson. I can promise that I will be training like a champion these next 7 weeks and will bring the sting of Mohammed Ali to Kona. Let’s focus on the process right now and get ready for
Work Hard,
TJ |
